I know the rating for this story is T but I went kind of overboard with the curse words in this chapter so I apologize in advance. It's just that once I started writing it, I couldn't stop.

One more thing. I plan on updating every week and even though I might go over a day or two, I'll definitely update because I love this story way too much to abandon it.

I hope you guys enjoy. Read and review!

It was almost 3am and I still couldn't sleep. Honestly, I didn't want to sleep. My body was restless and I couldn't understand why I was so affected by this. Yesterday, I found out what happened to Hinata after we parted ways a year ago. She had been so excited to meet this guy that she didn't give a single thought to all that she was leaving behind. But she did all that only to be rejected by the one person for whom she was willing to give up everything.

I had been lying on the bed for the past couple of hours trying to fall asleep. I just lay there so still that anyone would think I was asleep, but my eyes were wide open. I was staring at the fan that was rotating on the ceiling above the bed. It was kind of hypnotizing watching it for hours in the dark room where the only light came from the moon from the window.

The plan had been that I was going to come to the Land of Tea, find Toneri, then from him find out about Hinata, yell at her for worrying her family and me, then take her back home. Well, that wasn't going to happen. Instead of the relief I had been hoping to find here, I became more worried about Hinata.

When the sun finally rose, I didn't waste any time and went out to look for her in this city. Neji had emailed me her photo as soon as I had asked him. Even though we weren't on friendly terms, I knew one thing for sure which was that when it came to people we cared about we were both similar. He still had to get back to me with Hinata's phone record because the private investigator was having some issues. So instead of waiting around, I went ahead and started asking people around if they had seen Hinata. I carried her photo around showing it to different people at the bus station and train station incase she travelled from there. I took it to different stores and hotels around the area hoping she might have passed by someplace around here.

"Oh, I think I might have seen her," said a boy as I held her photo in front of him.

I was at a hotel that wasn't too far from Toneri's office. The hotel was small, and looked more like a house that was being rent out than a hotel. There was an old couple that ran the place. Their teenage son was the one that was looking at Hinata's photograph as he was trying to remember something. He stared at it for a while as my eyebrows furrowed in frustration. I swear, if this kid was messing with me I was going to beat the shi-

"Yeah, I remember her!" he finally said as he snapped his fingers when he recognized her.

"When did you see her?" I asked as patiently as I could because at this moment, I wanted to do nothing but yell at him to hurry up and tell me.

"Well, I think it was a year ago, maybe…hmm…yeah, it was." He scratched his head.

"Did she stay here?"

"Oh yeah! She rented out a room here for a week. Grandma gave her a room in the back but I don't think she'd remember much 'cause, you know, they're old," he laughed.

"Kid, just tell me what you remember about her." I glared at him.

"Umm, well, she was here for a week. Looked real sad and lost so grandma gave her a room. Every morning she would go somewhere, but whenever she came back she'd be crying. She did that everyday until she said she was going to visit a friend and stay there with her. She paid grandma and left the next day."

"Do you know where she went?"

"No, sorry." The boy shrugged.

I left their place as soon as I got everything from the boy, and went back to the hotel as it was getting late now. I found out that she stayed here for a week, probably trying to talk to Toneri, but other than that, I didn't figure anything out. Where could she have gone? Hopefully Naruto was able to find something.

As soon as I got to my room, Neji sent me an email. I checked it to find that he had finally sent her phone records. Looking at it, I saw that the phone call she made was to Konoha General Hospital. It was a few weeks after she had been in the Land of Tea. Why would she call the hospital?

Just then Naruto called and without any hesitation, I answered the phone.

"Naruto," I said as I answered my phone.

"Hey Sasuke. I have something for you."

"What did you find?" I asked trying to contain any hope because it might not be something good.

"Yeah, it's kind of funny." He chuckled. "I was doing a background check on her just to find out where she worked and stuff, and this other officer came up behind me and started interrogating me. Turns out, he knows her. Kiba Inuzuka went to college with this girl and they stayed in touch even afterwards."

"Does he know where she is?" I asked immediately.

"Yeah, he does. He was reluctant in telling me but I had to plead with him. I told him about her family being worried, and about my lovesick friend who was chasing after her."

"What did he say Naruto?" I growled. I ignored his last comment, which was most definitely about me.

"Okay, I'm getting there. He said that he talked to her a couple of months ago and at the time she was staying with a woman named Kurenai Yuhi. She lives in the Land of Waves. You remember that place right? We went there when we were younger." I could hear the smile in his voice as he remembered something from our childhood.

"Yeah… Thanks Naruto. I really appreciate your help."

"Don't mention it… It's the least I can do… especially after all that I did –"

"That's in the past now." I cut him off. "Let's just move forward…I'm glad that you're happy." It would not have been the same a year ago but right now I truly was happy for my friend.

"Thanks Sasuke… Now you go get your girl!" he hung up right away before I could even reply. I just shook my head thinking about Naruto. He was always going to be the same.

I finally felt some relief after finding out where Hinata was. At least now I could see her.

The next day, I took the first flight to the Land of Waves. When I arrived there, it felt kind of nostalgic, and not because I had been there during my childhood. This was also the place where Hinata and I had spent some time before going to Suna.

When I got to the Land of Waves, I rented myself a car and went to a hotel to book a room so I could drop my bag off. It was still pretty early in the day so I decided to visit the place where Hinata was staying. Naruto had given me Kurenai's address so I drove there hoping that Hinata was there. On my way, I couldn't help but feel the anticipation build up. I was getting nervous for some reason, and it felt weird. I realized that I was nervous to meet Hinata after such a long time. I pushed that thought away and focused on driving.

When I got to the address, I found a small house in a residential street. It seemed quiet inside and for some reason I became nervous again. What if she was in there? What if she wasn't? I didn't know what to expect if I saw her but I stayed inside my car contemplating if I should go up to the house. My car was parked across the street from the house so I could see it from the car's window. After a few minutes when I finally decided to go up to the house, someone came out.

Hinata came out of the house dressed in dark grey pants and a white shirt. She turned around to lock the door before she headed to the sidewalk. She was kind of far away but I still caught a glimpse of her face. She looked different.

When she started walking on the sidewalk, I got out of the car and started following her. I was walking at a distance but not too far that she couldn't see me if she turned around. But she never noticed my presence. She kept walking quietly with her head lowered and eyes on the ground. She did not lift her eyes once to look around her. She just kept walking quietly, without even a smile on her face.

I couldn't even recognize her. She just seemed like an empty shell of her past self, and I couldn't do anything but stare at her, trying to find the Hinata I knew.

She walked up to a school and turned to go inside. Once inside the school, she went into the nurse's office and that was when I realized, she was a nurse. She went into the nurse's office and I wanted to follow her inside but the school bell rang and all the students started shuffling around to get to class. It didn't seem like the best time or place to talk to her. I didn't want to interrupt her at her work, so I decided to wait for her. I went back to my car and drove it around a little until I finally went to the school and parked my car to just wait there. It was almost time for the school to end.

The entire day I had just been thinking about Hinata and what she looked like when I saw her. I missed her old self because she was always happy and smiling, but now she had no emotion. Even her eyes had seemed so dull and devoid. I kept cursing Toneri because this was his fault, but I felt useless for not being able to help Hinata when she needed it. I wanted nothing more than to be with her right now and never let her out of my sight. I wanted her to smile again.

The school bell rang and soon the kids started heading out. Eventually, I came out of the car and leaned against it to wait for Hinata. It wasn't until at least an hour after the last of the students had left when Hinata finally came out. She held her bag on her shoulder and walked down the stairs to walk on the sidewalk like she did this morning. But this time I decided to stand in front of her rather than walk behind her.

She walked a few steps towards me with her gaze lowered but as she got closer, she finally lifted her eyes and saw me.

"Sasuke?" she asked, a little surprised but nothing more.

I finally got to see her up close and I noticed things I hadn't been able to earlier. She was paler than usual. Her eyes were red rimmed and she had dark circles underneath them.

"What are you doing here, Sasuke?" she asked again after I didn't say anything.

"I've been looking for you." I responded as I shoved my hands into my pockets.

"Why?" she asked, confused, and for the first time today I saw her show any kind of emotion on her face.

"I met Toneri two days ago," I said instead of answering her question. Her eyes widened a little but her expression didn't change much. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"W-why would I tell you?" I furrowed my brows at her question.

"I took you all the way to Suna when you missed your train. And then I went with you to the Land of Tea when you ran away from your home. Don't you think I would've been worried about you?"

"It doesn't concern you." She looked away.

"Then what about your family?" She bit her lip at my question. "Isn't it their concern? Shouldn't you at least tell –"

"Stop it!" she yelled. "If you have nothing else to say then please excuse me." She walked around me to get away but I grabbed her arm before she could leave.

"Hinata," I sighed as she tried to pry her arm away. This was not the way I expected this to go. As soon as I saw her, I couldn't help but get angry at her stupidity and the consequences that lead her to be like this. But I had to calm down. It wasn't her fault that things didn't go her way. "I'm sorry." She stopped squirming and slowly looked at me over her shoulder. She wasn't crying, but I could see her quivering lip as if she was trying to hold back, and I wanted to punch myself. How could I make her feel worse? I let go of her arm and she straightened before turning towards me with the same blank expression she had earlier.

"You must be tired. Why don't you come over f-for some tea?" she said with a strained smile.

I nodded and then suggested that we go in my car. I drove her and pretended to listen to the directions she gave me for her house as if this was my first time going to it.

When we got to her place, she showed me to her living room where I sat while she went into the kitchen to make some tea. After a few minutes, she came back and handed me a cup while she took hers and sat across from me on another couch.

"Listen, Hinata," it felt nice saying her name again like that, "You're family is really worried about you." She kept looking at her cup quietly, so I continued. "They found me and came all the way to Konoha to ask about you. You were missing for an entire year so I promised them that I'd find you and bring you back."

"You shouldn't have promised something like that." She said without lifting her head.

"Why?"

"Because I d-don't want to go back." She sniffled and I felt the same feeling that I had earlier when I made her sad, but I didn't stop.

"Hinata, they're your family. You can't ignore them forever."

"B-but I can't f-face them. Especially after I r-ran away like that." She started crying.

I got up from my seat and sat beside her. I took the teacup from her hands to put it away so I could grab her hands in my own.

"Hinata, they're worried about you. They don't care that you ran away. All they want is to see you and to know that you're okay." I rubbed my thumbs on the back of her hands as I held them. "Also, if I don't bring you back in a week, then Neji will kill me," I said seriously but it finally got her to look at me. "It's true, I can tell you word for word what he wrote to me in an email. Something about castrating me, hanging me, taking me to court and registering me as a sex offender. There was more too."

"Neji wouldn't do that," she said but her tears had stopped and there was a small smile on her face.

"Oh, then you don't know him," I smirked.

"Hinata, who's this?" a woman in her early thirties came in to the living room with a child on her hip. She had brown hair which was lighter than Hinata's but her eyes were red. "I didn't know you were going to have a guest over," she smiled as she looked at our hands.

"Oh!" she jumped off the couch as she let go of my hands, "This is my friend, Sasuke. Sasuke, this is Kurenai. I live with her for now." She slightly blushed as she spoke and I couldn't help but feel pleased by her reaction. Kurenai on the other hand just stared at Hinata's face in shock.

"Hinata, you're blushing." She pointed out.

"No, I'm not," she blushed even more. The baby in Kurenai's arms started laughing and Hinata had to cover her cheeks with her hands.

"I'll be upstairs," Kurenai smiled. "Don't make too much noise you two, okay?" she winked at Hinata and headed up the stairs. Hinata just made a noise before blushing even more as Kurenai left.

It was quiet for a while and none of us moved so I decided to say something.

"Hinata, you have to go home." She turned to look at me before picking up the tea and taking it to the kitchen. I followed her silently but after disposing the tea in the sink she looked at me with her back to the counter.

"I'll think about it," she finally said.

"I'll be back in two days and you can tell me then." I said as she walked me out the door. She nodded and then said goodbye before shutting the door.

Two days later, I came back to her house as I had said I would. I was about to knock on the door when it opened up.

"Hi Sasuke. Hinata's all ready. She'll be down in a minute," said Kurenai as she went up the stairs. I didn't know what to do so I just waited by the door until Hinata came down. She was wearing a backpack and holding a duffle bag in her hand.

"I'm ready to go," she said before turning to Kurenai to give her a hug. "Thank you, Kurenai, for everything. I'll let you know when I get home," she smiled at her and then kissed the baby that Kurenai was holding. "Bye," she said as she took her stuff and started heading towards my car, but before I could follow her, Kurenai spoke.

"Please take care of Hinata," she said to me. I just nodded in response and went to my car.

Hinata was waiting by the car to put her stuff away so I unlocked the car. After we placed everything away we got in the car and I froze. What was I supposed to do now?

"Aren't we going home?" Hinata asked as she saw that I wasn't starting the car.

"I haven bought the tickets yet." I was only supposed to find out if she wanted to go home today, not actually take her home.

"Oh… I thought we were going to… Well, I already said goodbye to Kurenai." I sighed and started the car. I guess we'll have to go to my hotel and then I'll buy the tickets for tomorrow.

When we got to the room, it was already dark outside so I ordered dinner so we could eat in the room. While we ate the food I looked for flights to Suna. The room that I had booked was one with a separate bedroom so I was sitting in the main room where the TV was while Hinata ate in the bedroom.

After booking the flight, I went in to the bedroom as well to see what she was doing. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, hugging her legs, while her back was to me. I smirked as I remembered something.

"I know Tae Kwondo."

"What?" she turned around looking at me with a puzzled look.

"Yeah, so don't even try anything on me." She smiled as she remembered the first night after she missed her train.

"I wasn't going to," she replied, as her smile grew wider.

I just smirked and sat on the sofa across from the bed.

"Do you know what kind of place that was?"

"Oh god, that place was really weird," she laughed.

"But do you know what that guy at the reception thought you were?"

"What?"

"He thought you were a call girl. That by the hour charge was for, you know, that kind of stuff." I smirked.

"What?" she looked at me in disbelief before bursting into laughter. "I can't believe it!" she was laughing so hard that she had tears in her eyes and I couldn't resist laughing either. "No wonder," she said when her laughter slowly dissipated. "No wonder I always get into such stupid situations. I went after him like an idiot. I'm so stupid." She covered her face with her hands and began crying.

I went to sit beside her and hesitated for a minute. Not knowing what to do, I just placed my hand on her shoulder but she didn't even notice.

"Hinata, you don't need to cry over some jerk like that." But she kept crying. "Hinata, look at me." I took one of her hands away from her tear stricken face. "You need to get over this guy. He's just hurting you." She sniffled but she had stopped crying now. "Do you have a photo of him?" I asked remembering what Hinata had done when the roles were switched.

"No," she rasped.

"Damn," what do I do now? "Wait here."

I went out of the bedroom to get my wallet. Inside I found what I was looking for and went back to Hinata.

"Come with me." I grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her behind me to the main room until we got to the landline phone for the room. "Here," I picked up the receiver and handed it to her.

"What do you want me to do?" she sniffled.

"You're going to call him."

"What!? B-but I don't have his n-number," she panicked at the thought of talking to Toneri.

"I do," I took out the business card I had found in my wallet. It was Toneri's so it had his office and cell number.

"B-but what if he doesn't p-pick up? This is his w-work number." She tried in an attempt to get out of this, but I wasn't going to give up so easily.

"You're still going to try. Call him."

"No! I d-don't want to t-talk to him!" She tried running away but I grabbed her wrist with my hand while I dialed Toneri's number with my other hand. As soon as I was done, I handed the phone to Hinata who could hear the dial tone as it rang.

She stared at the phone with wide eyes until she heard a voice.

"Hello," answered a voice from the receiver which I was sure was Toneri's.

Hinata just kept staring so I placed the phone to her ear so she would hold it.

"Hello, who is this?" he asked again and Hinata turned to me for some help.

"Say something," I whispered.

"Umm…"

"Hinata, is that you?" he asked immediately as he recognized her voice. "I thought we were done with this. We already talked about it. After all this time you're still not over this. Now, you're calling me. I already told you Hinata –"

"I-I know that," she replied hesitantly.

"Then why did you call?" he snapped.

"U-umm… I c-called b-because," she looked at me with wide eyes.

"Say 'I called because I wanted to tell you something.'" I whispered to her to say to Toneri.

"I-I called b-because I w-wanted to t-tell you something."

"What is it Hinata? I don't have all day."

"I wanted t-to tell you t-that…"

"You are," I whispered.

"Y-you are," she copied.

"A…"

"A…"

"Fucking asshole," I whispered.

"A fuc-what! I can't say that!" She shrieked into the phone.

"Hinata! Fuck, why do you have to yell so loud!" Toneri shouted.

"Tell him he's a jerk, Hinata. Get it all off your chest," I urged her. She hesitated at first but finally said something.

"Y-you're mean," she said quietly into the phone.

"What?" Toneri replied.

Hinata took in a deep breath and spoke again.

"I-I said you're mean."

"Keep going," I whispered.

"A-and you're a jerk."

"Hinata, what are you saying?" said Toneri.

"Toneri, you are a-a jerk! And you're, you're such an asshole!"

"More, more bad words," I said as I punched my fist into my palm.

"You are such an asshole. I came to see you all the way from Suna and y-you just kicked me out like that. You are a fucking asshole!"

"Hinata," Toneri said, bewildered by her emotions.

"Enjoy your single life you p-piece of shit, because you're never going to find someone who will put up with all y-your bullshit like I did. And you know," Hinata kept going like broken dam, " I r-remember what you said and honestly, I've b-been trying to understand things from your perspective, but I just can't get my head that f-far up my ass like yours! F-fuck you!" with that she slammed the phone and hung up.

She was panting after that and I couldn't help but feel the satisfaction at imagining Toneri's face on the other end of the line when she said all that.

"That was fucking amazing. Better?" I said as I gave her a pat on the shoulder a little roughly, but she didn't mind. Instead she looked at me with the biggest smile I had seen in a long time. She was blushing too, and I couldn't stop staring at her. She jumped towards me and wrapped her arms around my neck to give me a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered against my neck and a chill went down my spine as I felt her breath there.

I raised my arms and awkwardly patted her on her back. She was a woman and we were alone in this hotel room so the implications were there, but this was Hinata. She would never have ulterior motives like that. This was just a hug, so I treated it as such and hugged her back even though it felt really nice. I wrapped my arms around her and lowered my face to take in her scent. I held her until she pulled away slowly, but not all the way.

We were still in each other's arms when she stared at me with a blush. Up close I could see how her eyes weren't just grey, but had a lavender tint to it. Without realizing it, I slowly leaned forward as Hinata slightly parted her lips. I didn't know when but I had started staring at her lips as her eyes were closed now. When I was only a hairsbreadth away, my phone rang.

As soon as the phone rang, both of our eyes snapped open wide, in the next second we pushed each other off and were looking away with what I knew was a very bright blush on both our faces. Damn, when did it get so hot in here?

"Excuse me," I said as I went to check my phone. I didn't know what happened or what was about to happen or whether I was glad or angry to be interrupted. I didn't want to think about it.

I picked up the phone to see an unknown number calling me, but I answered it anyway.

"Did you find Hinata?" asked a man on the other end. I rolled my eyes, as I knew who this was.

"Yes, Neji I found her. We'll be heading to Suna tomorrow."

"Good," he said curtly but I could hear the change in his voice. He was relieved and glad that I found her. "She better gets here safely within this week, or else…imagine if word got out that the Uchiha CEO was a dickless sex offender and a closet pervert."

"The hell Neji! She'll be there. Stop it with the weird threats." I hung up the phone and as soon as I did that a thought crept into my mind. What if he saw us? My eyes widened. Is he watching us right now? I did a once over around the room and the windows to get rid of this mild paranoia of Neji watching his cousin and me.

Once I was satisfied that Neji wasn't hiding somewhere in the room, I went out to where Hinata was still standing with her blush slowly disappearing, but it came back with full force when she saw me enter the room.

"Uhm," I cleared my throat to get rid of the awkward tension. "You can take the bed and I'll sleep here. Our flight is at 8 in the morning."

She nodded and headed into the bedroom shutting the door behind here. I just sighed and fell back onto the couch. I couldnt help but feel happy that I was able to help her in some way.

The next day we headed to the airport to board our flight to Suna. We hadn't spoken much but it wasn't awkward anymore between us. A few hours later we landed in Suna and got a taxi to drive us to her home. When we got closer to the compound, she turned to me with a look in her eyes that I couldn't decipher.

"Thank you, Sasuke," she said with a smile. "I'm really glad that I got to meet you in the train that day. You've done so much for me," she said while smiling at me, and I couldn't help but stare at her. Right then I decided that she looked better with a smile.

The taxi stopped at our destination and we got out after I paid the driver. Once we were out, we walked to the compound's gate, and before we even rang the bell someone came out.

"It's her! It's Hinata!" a girl yelled as she pulled Hinata inside. It was like déjà vu because once again all these people were surrounding us when we got in.

"Hinata!" yelled Hanabi as she ran to her sister to give her a hug. Hinata couldn't help but cry and laugh at the same time. She was so afraid to go home because of how they might have reacted. She thought that they would disown her and hate her, but all these people were just hugging her and greeting her. Her sister had her in a death grip while most of the family was happy to finally see her after all this time.

"So Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha finally decided to come see us," said Hanako as she winked at me. Wait, Mrs. Uchiha? Hinata looked at me questioningly. This probably confused her as well. "Oh don't be so shy now. You two were hand-in-hand running like lovers and now you pretend it never happened," Hanako giggled.

"Hanako, what are yo—" Hinata asked before she got cut off.

"Both of you ran away and that was wrong," said Hiashi. "All you had to do was talk to me," he sighed, "but I know I can be a little… overbearing. Now, what's done is done. I'm just glad you're okay, and the Uchiha seems to be taking care of you well, I presume?" he asked Hinata but she stared at him confused by what he was saying. There were probably a lot of things she was confused about just like me but I did not dare say any of them out loud.

"Uchiha?" she said as she turned to look at me. Her eyes widened after a second once she realized the name, but there was still one thing that puzzled us both.

"Yes, Sasuke Uchiha. Has he been taking care of you?" he asked again.

"W-well, yes, he's very nice to me, b-but why are you asking me that?"

"Because I want to know if my son-in-law is taking care of you and treating you well. Just because he's an Uchiha and he's rich doesn't mean that he can take my daughter for granted."

"S-son-in-law!?" Hinata stuttered as I had the same reaction, mentally. I still wasn't in their good graces so I had to tread carefully around them, which meant I had to hide my confusion from them.

"That's why you two ran away, right, to elope?" asked Hanabi.

"Yeah, you guys tried hiding it by saying you 'just met on the train' and 'were only friends' but I knew it all along," Hanako pointed at us accusingly.

"Come on, everyone. They had a long journey and I'm sure they're tired by now. Let's give them some time to rest," said Hizashi as he stood in the crowd.

Neji stood right beside him and I could see how glad he was to see Hinata even though he didn't show it on his face. When he turned to look at me, his eyes changed and I could see all the plans he had made for me if I had failed to bring Hinata home.

The next thing I knew I was being led to the guest room by some guys, half of whom were giving me threatening looks.

"I know both of you are married," said an old man who seemed like he was nice, "and you have probably done it many times, but it's custom here for the bride and groom to stay separately until a proper ceremony is held."

"Yes, in a few days we'll hold a wedding ceremony to officially register your marriage. It's tradition." Neji glared at me.

"…Okay…?" I didn't know what to say. We weren't married but these people thought that since Hinata ran away with me, we probably eloped. I couldn't necessarily deny them because one, they won't believe me, and two, I didn't want Hinata to get in trouble with her family. I was going to let Hinata decide what she wanted to tell her family, until then I'll just play along.

Once everyone finally left me alone, Hinata came in to my room.

"Sasuke, I'm really sorry about this. I didn't think they wou—"

"It's okay. I don't really…mind it, if that's what you want. This way, you don't have to tell your family why you ran away." She bit her lip as she thought about my suggestion while I just stared at her lip imagining what it would feel like if I bit it –wait what? Am I turning into a closet pervert?

"I d-don't want to put you through any more trouble," she finally said with a worried look.

"Don't worry about me." I shook my head. "Just decide what you want. If you want to pretend so your family doesn't find out about Toneri then I'll go along with you." I could understand why she wanted to keep it hidden from her parents because if they found out that she ran away for a married man who rejected her in the end, they might not have had the same reaction.

"Okay," she said as she looked at me with a pensive look, but then smiled in the end. "Thank you, Sasuke. I don't know how I'd ever repay you."

"Just don't do anything stupid again," I said with a smirk as she smiled before she left my room. Even though I said that, my mind had gone back to yesterday when we were in the hotel room standing really close to each other. I shook my head to get rid of that image.

I probably should call Karin to extend my leave. I wouldn't be leaving this place for a few more days.